Developer: Mutech Publisher: Victor Musical Industries Release: 12/14/90 Genre: Shooter
They can’t all be winners. On a platform blessed with some of the finest shooters of all time there are bound to be some that are not up to snuff. I struggled through Deep Blue and somehow tolerated Rayxanber II and its ridiculous difficulty purely because it was a game I wanted when I was a teenager for some god forsaken reason. Toy Shop Boys is a curious little vertical-shooter with toy-themed visuals and some interesting ideas, though with a number of flaws that keeps it from standing out. Namely that it is ultimately boring. In the end no matter how novel an idea it is worth nothing if the game is not worth playing.
The premise is interesting. A mysterious villain named Gamma has apparently stolen the titular Toy Shop Boys……toys and plans to get them next. Not ones to take this lying down the boys decide to go on the offensive in this TV universe. How they can fly and wield weapons has no explaination, just go with it. Toy Shop Boys had the potential to be distinct with such a cool foundation. But they do the bare minimum to take advantage of it, leaving this an average shooter that is completely unmemorable.
Toy Shop Boys sees you controlling all three boys simultaneously. Only one is active with the others flying by their side. While they do not attack like options/satellites as in other games they can absorb bullets like a shield. Each boy has a distinct weapon: one has a Vulcan gun, another uses homing boomerangs while the last swings a laser-saber in a circular arc. You can switch at any time as the situation dictates although one is the clear favorite. I will get to that later. Power-ups are few. They boost your speed, weapon power up to four levels, and grant a shield that can withstand two hits. There is also a smart bomb that destroys everything on screen although its appearance is infrequent.
Toy Shop Boys is a slower paced game. Nothing wrong with that on its face; the R-Type series is certainly not lacking in excitement. But this game needs a shot of adrenaline. The first four levels are sparely populated with wide open spaces and predictable enemy patterns. The individual characters and their weapons should have been the lynch pin of the gameplay. But one weapon is so powerful (homing boomerangs) that the drawbacks of the others (short range/lacking power) outweigh their strengths. Stage five up the ante and show what could have been with a slightly faster pace, interesting design that all but forces you to switch weapons and a difficult boss. But the game ends on a whimper with a lame boss rush before the boring final encounter.
It is apparent Toy Shop Boys is targeted at kids, not just in its theme but also its difficulty. Even on the normal setting the game’s slow pace makes it incredibly easy. They certainly try at times. Death sends you back to a checkpoint and you lose all upgrades. The character switching dynamic is supposedly strategic depending on the situation. However the homing boomerangs are so powerful and convenient you can and will use them for 90% of the game. I only used the laser saber on a few bosses as its bullet cancelling made those encounters trivial. There is a late game difficulty spike but it is too little too late. With the generous scoring you will rack up extra lives. If you want a real challenge play it on hard. But that setting feels more tedious than challenging in my opinion.
Ultimately what is so disappointing about Toy Shop Boys is that it could be so much more. The premise of invading a world full of aggressive toys has so much potential. But they do so little with it. Rather than visiting unique toy like worlds you visit bland locales like a cave, a desert and a sparsely populated city. Only the second level with its Lego brick forts and army themed enemies was visually interesting. Outside of the bosses even the enemies are generic. Clockwork Knight might suffer from rubbery controls but damn do they nail the toy aesthetic. I wish they did here. The bland visuals alongside the lackadaisical pacing fail to drum up any excitement in this game.
In Closing
Toy Shop Boys is average at best. It certainly has its own flavor with its toy aesthetics and character switching weapons. But those are the only good things I can say about it. The game is slow, plodding, and lacking excitement until the late game. There is no reason to tolerate such bland gameplay to experience less than ten minutes of excitement when there are so many better options available.
A charming concept and decent execution do not a good shooter make.
